An Insult Can Lead To Depression, Suicide, Addiction, Separation, Joblessness, Homelessness, And A Life Of Crime

CBC – A Saskatchewan judge has ruled in favour of a First Nations man who says he was discriminated against when he was ejected from a Saskatoon restaurant in 2006.

The case concerns Leslie Tataquason, who was previously awarded $7,000 after a human rights tribunal found he was denied service at a Howard Johnson restaurant on the basis of his ancestry, contrary to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

At the earlier hearing, Tataquason testified his wife worked at the Howard Johnson and that on June 8, 2006, while he was having coffee with her, manager John Pontes said “Can’t you see she’s working? Get out, this isn’t the Friendship Centre.”

Tataquason said he was deeply hurt, and spiralled into depression as a result. In the weeks after the incident, “he thought of suicide, fell into addictions, went through a separation from his wife, lost his job, received treatment from psychologists and became a frequenter of petty crime and homelessness.”